The text, contexts, and aftertexts of early Christianity

Tag Archives: Bart Ehrman

On Bart Ehrman’s blog, Mark Goodacre recently posted about the ambiguities and contradictions around the circumstances of the discovery and acquisition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. He mentions specifically that Robinson’s accounts (pl) have contradictory details, and that scholars such as Kasser and Krause questioned their plausibility.

During a tour of the Special Collections at Honnold-Mudd several months ago, I saw that the Robinson papers were being processed. That work may still be in progress or perhaps completed by now, but in either case there is a new opportunity here for one or more scholars to examine those papers and see if they shed any light on the historical circumstances of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices.

Given the upcoming meeting at Claremont Graduate University of the International Association of Coptic Studies, there will also be ample opportunities to incorporate Robinson’s papers into presentations and even on-site displays.

Zosimus, “Count of the fisc” in the 6th century, wrote an oddball history in 6 books, which only just reached us. It was an oddball text because Zosimus was a pagan, and blamed Constantine for everything. Although he wrote around 550, he had access to lost sources, which make him our only source for events […]